The present invention relates to a mobile telephone comprising an automatic calling device notably including
storage means for storing data representing the telephone numbers of called parties, subdivided into at least three areas intended for the programming of three separate data fields;
programming means for programming the contents of said fields, provided for putting in the first field a first code which represents various countries where the called parties are located, in the second field a second code which represents a prefix which is linked with the country where said called parties are located and with the relative location of the user and of the called party, and in the third field a third code which represents said called party""s private number;
detection means for detecting the contents of said fields while the user of the telephone is calling a called party;
calling means for calling as a function of the results of said detections.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,088 describes an embodiment of a mobile telephone in which the telephone number s of the party the user calls most frequently can be stored in a memory and the number he wishes is dialled by way of an automatic searching device. These telephone numbers are formed by two parts: a prefix, which depends on the place where the user is (and possibly on the network or the operator chosen), followed by the private number of the called party (in France 9 digits at present).
When the private number of a called party is stored in the telephone repertoire or on a card of the SIM type (SIM=Subscriber Identity Module; in a mobile GSM type of telephone this relates to the cardxe2x80x94of the credit card format or of a smaller formatxe2x80x94which contains all the user""s own data and which is removable and can thus be transferred from one telephone to another), the number of the called party may be programmed in two different modes: in a local mode or in an international mode.
In the local mode, all the programmed digits are systematically dialled by the automatic searching device at whatever place the user who calls is, and whatever cell his mobile telephone is connected to. For this reason, the dialled prefix always remains the same and a number ordinarily dialled from abroad (for a specific called party) is no longer correctly interpreted by the network when the user is in the country of this called party. Similarly holds for the other way around, when the user who is habitually in the same country as a called party calls him, this time from abroad.
In the international mode, the programming consists of programming the sign  less than  less than + greater than  greater than  followed by the country code where the called party is, and then only thereafter, the nine digits of this called party. The drawback thus resides in the fact that the user either has to know the country code of the called party or have the numbers of the called parties programmed in an international mode which he habitually dials in a local mode.
It is thus an object of the invention to propose a telephone comprising an automatic calling device which can be used irrespective of the place where the user is, and of the network or cell to which the mobile telephone is connected.
For this purpose, the invention relates to a telephone such as described in the introductory paragraph of the application and which is moreover
the detection of a first empty field or, in contrast, programmed field corresponds to a call that has either or not been effected within the frontiers of the country where the user and the called party are located;
the detection of a second empty field or, in contrast, programmed field corresponds, when the first field itself is programmed, to an international type of call with or without a prefix respectively, of the number of the called party;
the detection of a second programmed field or, in contrast, empty field corresponds, when the first field itself is empty, to a call in the local mode, the choice of either an operator and the associated calling network or, in contrast, of a database network being then possible.
In a variant of embodiment, the storage means provided may also include a fourth area intended for a code conversion table between a list of said first codes which represent the countries where the called party is locatedxe2x80x94or of the prefixed associated to said countriesxe2x80x94and a list on which said countries are clearly designated, and means for recognizing such a designation.